Nor'easter will make Thanksgiving travel difficult

Whether the Lehigh Valley gets rain or snow depends on storm's path.

Map of United States shows the wide swath of a storm expected Wednesday along… (COURTESY OF ACCUWEATHER.COM )

November 24, 2013|By Peter Hall, Of The Morning Call

It's as certain as turkey and cranberry sauce the weather will be foul for a couple of days leading up to Thanksgiving, the National Weather Service says.

What's still as murky as gravy is whether the bad weather will come in the form of rain or snow when a nor'easter tracks up the coast late Tuesday and Wednesday, meteorologist Greg Heavener said.

Either way, travel up and down the Interstate 95 corridor from Richmond, Va., to Maine will be difficult, Heavener said.

"It's going to be highly dependent on the track," he said.

If the storm stays close to the coast or slightly inland, the air will be warmer and the Lehigh Valley will be affected mainly by heavy rain and wind. That's the most likely scenario right now, Heavener said.

But if the storm stays out to sea, cold air will flood the region leading to snow and freezing rain, he said.

Described as a nightmare for millions of Thanksgiving travelers by Accuweather.com, the beginnings of the nor'easter will brew over the Gulf of Mexico when a storm system that dumped snow and freezing rain on the desert southwest Saturday joins a blast of arctic air from British Columbia.

After a chance of snow or sleet from a separate and smaller storm Tuesday in the Lehigh Valley, the nor'easter is expected to cruise up the Atlantic coast Tuesday with the brunt of the bad weather on Wednesday.

Accuweather.com says the storm is likely to bring substantial snow to western Pennsylvania and New York with up to a foot along the spine of the Appalachian mountains into Vermont.

The good news, Heavener said, is that the bad weather should clear out by Thanksgiving Day with sunshine but low temperatures.

Before the storm, the weather in Allentown is forecast to be cold, with a low of 16 Sunday night, sunny and cold Monday, a slight chance of snow with a low of 25 Monday night and a 30 percent chance of snow and sleet on Tuesday.